Hi everyone! As I previously mentioned, I am now motivated and inspired to bring you a lot of exciting content! One of my more recent sources of inspiration is coming from this season of Dancing With the Stars, where Adam Rippon, Mirai Nagasu, and the infamous Tonya Harding are competing. I pretty much only watch the show when there are figure skaters competing, so this season definitely had a big draw, and Adam is killing it! He is seriously amazing. Unfortunately, Mirai got eliminated last week.
With this show going on, I thought I would write about different ballroom-influenced skating programs. I plan to post these on Sunday night or Monday morning before the show airs (this is all on US time; the times will of course be different for my international readers).
This week's theme is the tango. I'm not ranking these in any particular order; I'm just showcasing some of my favorites. Let's start out with what is now probably the most famous and talked about tango performance:
Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir- Tango de Roxanne
This was Tessa and Scott's Gold Medal performance from the 2018 Olympics. Absolute perfection. The edges. The musicality. The emotions. They maximized every single note and nuance in the music. While they have not officially announced their retirement, it has been widely speculated that the Olympics was their final competitive performance. If that is the case, what a way to go out!
There have been many skaters who have performed to this same piece of music, but only one other performance that can hold its own against Virtue and Moir's masterpiece. Here it is:
Yuna Kim: Tango de Roxanne
Yuna is one of those skaters that gets it right every time. She has great musicality and projection. I greatly enjoyed this performance and she carried it off beautifully.
The next couple of tangos are from some of my favorite skaters, as I love their on ice presence and personalities:
Angelika Krylova and Oleg Ovsyannikov: Argentine Tango Compulsory Dance
Here's a throwback to back in the day when compulsory dances were still part of the Olympics. I miss them, even though any pattern dance music is AWFUL. It was a good objective way to measure everyone's edges, rhythm, and overall dance skills. And I freakin' LOVE Angelika Krylova. She even brings the drama to the compulsory dances! When will your fave ever...
Next, we feature another Russian ice diva who can serve serious face. Because for some reason, I love that.
Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov- Tango de Besame
I really like this team. It seems like their personalities balance each other out well. This was a great program, particularly for pairs, since it incorporated a lot of dance elements, and there was more musical expression than we see from a lot of pairs teams. I'm very disappointed that they did not get the opportunity to compete at the Olympics this time.
Most of the time, when we think of tango, it is seen as a sensual, romantic dance. That was seen in Virtue and Moir's performance, and I have a few more to show you:
Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin- Tango Oblivion
This team is most well-known for their unfortunate mishap (and downright cringeworthy) Aboriginal Dance from the 2010 Olympic season, but they do have a lot of good performances as well, to include this one. That low lift was spectacular, and reminiscent of the "drag" seen in a ballroom Argentine tango. I love that move too! Wish I knew the technical name for it...They tell a nice story with this dance and her dress is stunning.
Anna Pogorilaya- The Scent of a Woman
I think this might be my favorite program from Anna. There was a move in the 2016/2017 season for her to transition to more mature programs than the previous seasons. This was choreographed by Misha Ge, whom everyone knows I am a huge fan of. Anna has fantastic spins, and I don't think they are talked about enough. Anna was out for the majority of the 2017/2018 season, and I haven't seen much on what she's up to. Her coach was horribly mean to her earlier this season, and I know she was looking at switching coaches. I hope everything is going well with that.
Madison Chock and Evan Bates- Blue Tango
Wow! This program is 🔥🔥🔥! Madison and Evan are actually dating, so I think this plays into their connection in this dance as well. They have taken on classic tango roles, Evan as the strong leading man, and Madison as the tempting seductress. Ok, now I'm sounding like Bruno on DWTS...
The intense staring really drives the performance home. OMG that joint spread eagle with the chair is amazing! This is intense, and you can't look away the entire time.
Daisuke Takahashi- Primavera Portena
Here we have Dai, the king of all step sequences. I could watch him skate all day; he is so amazing! He has such great lines and hold positions as well. I would love to see him do a dance-type performance with someone. I think that would be cool. I'm blown away with how quickly he moves on everything. He covers the ice so fast, and the spins are moving too! Also, this is an awesome costume.
I had a few more I wanted to include that were different from these other performances:
Karen Chen- Tango Jalousie
Karen choreographed this program herself, and she did a pretty damn good job. She is one of my favorite ladies from Team USA, and when she is on, she is one of the best in the world. She has some of the most amazing spirals. That's my favorite move to see when done well. Karen had a lot of issues with boots (plus some very ugly drama with Avanta), but that looks to have been resolved now. I'm interesting in what she will do next. I'm also kind of annoyed that Stars on Ice is not coming anywhere near me, because I have heard her show programs are awesome.
So now, I know all the Shoma fans are wondering...Where's Loco? Well, I saved the best for last.
Shoma Uno- Buenos Aires Hora Cero (AKA Loco)
This program is a fan favorite, and there have been many requests from fans to bring this program back. He went a different direction this season with a free skate to Turandot. I enjoyed it, but for Loco aficionados no other program can compare. In a lot of ways, it is similar to Takahashi's Primavera Portena. Daisuke is one of Shoma's biggest influences, so this is not surprising. He almost won the 2017 World Championships with this and his short program performance, but narrowly missed the top of the podium to Yuzuru Hanyu. This was such and awesome competition and Shoma put it all out there! Shoma is the complete package. He's mainly seen as one of the young jumpers, but he has a great sense of musicality as well. And that cantilever...🔥.
I hope you all enjoyed this post, and are enjoying Dancing With the Stars, if you're into it. Stay tuned next week, where I will feature another dance! It's a surprise for now 😉
Hi everyone! I'm coming back after almost a 3 month hiatus on the blog. This is the longest I have gone without writing/posting something since I started Icy Trails. Luckily, I just do this blog for fun. I don't do any ads or make any money off of it. That way I'm not swayed in my writing by a profit motive, I can write about what I want, and I can give my honest opinions. Plus getting Adsense just sounds like a giant pain in the ass...
Why have I not been writing? Well, there's a few reasons...
1) I started 3 different blog posts in this time and have not finished them. There are a few (such as my favorite programs of the season) that it's just too late to post now. I was having a hard time writing a few times because my heart just wasn't in it.
2) I have been in a roller coaster of emotions since I'm not skating at the moment, due to the often-cited "boot problems". It has at times left me uninspired to write. I plan to be skating again before the end of the year though.
3) I've been trying to limit my time on social media. Last year seemed like a much happier time across all my networks. It was a great encouragement and support system, and I got to learn about other cultures. This is still happening, and there are people I love to converse with. But things have just taken such a negative toll, particularly on Twitter. The fan wars went on for months on end after the season ended, and someone's outraged about something, skating or not, all the damn time. It's not exactly the environment I want to get into after a stressful day. Not that there isn't a lot in this world that needs to be fixed, but complaining online really isn't going to help anything. I do think a lot on things that are wrong but if I go too far down that path, I get stuck in the vortex of negativity.
4) I have actually been busy. With my job, church, and other commitments, I haven't had time to get a lot of things together.
With this break, I've been indulging in my other passions like music and makeup. This has brought me some new ideas and inspiration that I hope to incorporate into my blog. So, I'm back! More posts will be coming soon!
Just like the rest of you, I've been watching all the figure skating on the Olympics. And by watching, I mean letting it consume my entire life. Y'all know how it is...
Anyway, I have seen various discussions on all my social media accounts about various commentators on television, the live stream, and Twitter. I'm not sure if the skaters providing commentary via Twitter are doing so in an official capacity, but I have many thoughts on the variety of posts I have seen.
Thoughts on Current Commentators
To get started, I will tell you guys that I live in the US, so our broadcast is on NBC with Tara Lipinski, Johnny Weir, and Terry Gannon. For those of you in other parts of the world, you are very lucky. I adore the British commentators. They have found a balance between enthusiasm and offering an objective view of mistakes. I also enjoy the Spanish-speaking commentators. I'm not fluent in Spanish, but I took Spanish all 4 years of high school, 2 years at Uni, and I pop in on Duolingo occasionally. I know enough that I can understand most of what they're saying. Their enthusiasm is infectious, and it's the closest thing I can find to my ultimate dream commentary: the Telemundo soccer (or football for my non-US readers) commentators commenting on figure skating, complete with yelling "GOOOOOAAAALLLLL!". And finally, the Canadian commentary team with Ted Barton and Kurt Browning is also fantastic. Ted in particular is a joy to listen to.
Hopefully my thoughts won't cause me to lose followers, but here's the deal: There are a lot of people and commentators who seem to think that "just being honest" or "telling it like it is" is the same as being a complete asshole. No, I must disagree with this one. There have been some incredibly hurtful things said by many official and unofficial commentators, and we are only halfway though the individual events. I understand that not everything is perfect, but there are tactful or diplomatic ways to say things with out being a jerk.
So, where do I start:
I'll begin with the biggest sore spot, Tara and Johnny.
They look great, but their takes are not. Their commentary has gotten progressively worse over the years as well. They started out as mildly irritating, but with Johnny providing insightful technical commentary. Now they believe they are celebrities and are more of the main event than the athletes, it seems. I am extremely surprised by the amount of things that NBC is letting Tara get away with saying. Laughing at other skater's injuries, and hoping that skaters will fail so that your favorite will win. Absolutely unacceptable. I'm also annoyed with Johnny trying to take the spotlight off of Adam Rippon as the first openly gay skater for the US at the Olympics by making it all about him.
It's upsetting to me because I love Johnny's skating. He is very artistic and fun, and pushes creative boundaries. However, over time, I've come to realize you can appreciate someone's work while not really caring for them as a person. That's where I'm at with Johnny, and I'm going that way with another skater I will mention in a bit.
Thankfully, I have been watching the Olympics on NBC's stream. They have different commentators there. I will say they lack some of the knowledge of Tara and Johnny, but they don't have the vitriol and pettiness they have either. I will take a couple mis-pronounced names, and chuckle when a quad axel is mentioned, over them any day.
I almost forgot to mention Terry. He often provides insightful commentary. He's been in this business for a long time and can work with a variety of personalities. He can stay.
The Olympic Ice special shows Scott Hamilton and Tanith White, and I really enjoy their commentary. Tanith has also been doing the commentary for ice dance, and doing a fantastic job. I hope to see her on more in the future. I think Scott is one of the all time great commentators, along with Sandra Bezic. They were a great team because Scott is so enthusiastic, and Sandra had a more even-keeled objective approach. I greatly miss both of them, but I'm glad Scott is still there in some capacity.
We will now move on to our Twitter brethren...
Again, I'm not sure if any of these skaters are doing this in an official capacity or not. There have been rapid-fire tweets from 4 current and retired skaters all throughout the competition: 4-time US Champion Jeremy Abbott, the 2006 Olympic Bronze Medalist Jeffrey Buttle, 2-time US Champion Gracie Gold, and the 2016 World Silver Medalist Ashley Wagner. As you can see, they all have the credentials to comment on skating, as do Tara and Johnny. Some of them are a vast improvement on the televised commentary, and others are pretty much putting the same thing out there.
Jeremy's comments have been very detailed, insightful, and for the most part, positive. I have enjoyed following him this Olympics, and he actually liked one of my posts on Twitter! I think Jeffrey Buttle has been tweeting particularly because he choreographed programs for several Olympians. He has really made a name for himself in that arena and is one of the best. Gracie's tweets have also been pretty good. She's had a few comments I didn't agree with, but the overall tone is good.
Now we're on to Ashley...
So apparently there's a narrative out there saying she's the next Tonya Harding, and she was going to find a way to steal Karen Chen's Olympic spot. Ok, that is ridiculous, and as we can see, that hasn't happened.
However, I do think there is a case where she would be the next Tara Lipinski (as a commentator, not a skater). Prior to the Olympics, there was a push on Twitter for Ashley and Adam Rippon to replace Tara and Johnny. Many people were on board with this, until they saw Ashley's tweets during the Olympics.
I must also point out that I'm not her biggest fan. My thoughts on her have wavered greatly over the years. At first I admired her work ethic, then I thought she acted like a spoiled brat leading up to and during the Sochi Olympics, then I was amazed by her comeback at 2015 Nationals and I respected her for that. She also put out a wonderful Instagram post after narrowly missing the Olympic Team this time around. She was open and vulnerable about how sad she was, but that she would overcome it. It was a great and inspiring message.
But there have been two things that have just undermined my liking of her for the past few seasons. One, she is constantly criticizing the judges. I can understand maybe doing this once or twice, if there is something shady going on. Also there has been so much talk about her age. Some of that was driven by the media, but she eggs them on by continuing to bring it up. She is 26. Carolina Kostner of Italy is 31 and is competing in her 4th Olympics. Not once has she, or anyone in the media really, ever mentioned her age. She's just out there skating and minding her own damn business, and doing it fantastically.
So anyway, back to Ashley. I do enjoy a lot of her programs, but her comments have been off-putting. And on to her Olympic tweets: she has made several disparaging comments against skaters she knows, and has competed with THIS SEASON. That's what makes it an even harder pill to swallow. All of the other official and unofficial commentators have retired and have been away from the sport at least for a season, so it's like they are on the outside looking in. With Ashley, it just comes off as someone who is bitter about not competing herself, and just throwing out all the negativity she can about her fellow competitors.
It all started with the Team Event, where she criticized just about everything about Alina Zagitova's free skate. I will admit, this is not my favorite program this season. It would be so much better if she wasn't performing about 95% of her elements in the second half of the program, making it rushed. But criticizing her outfit, and talking about how she wouldn't skate that way, understandably led to a lot of backlash. However, instead of handling this in a professional manner, Ashley proceeded to get into arguments on Twitter with everyone who disagreed with her. This went on for days, and it was at this point that I muted her.
Then, I noticed a lot of discussion on her commentary for the men's event, and it was even worse. In the men's free skate, Nathan Chen delivered one of the best performances ever in Olympic history. I was in tears from the moment he got that first quad lutz. So, Ashley was understandably excited about his performance, given how he has had such a rough time with the short program. There were many that still thought he had a shot at the podium. With that kind of effort, many would be happy to see that. However, hoping that some skaters ahead of him, particularly Boyang Jin, would mess up so he could make the podium, is not acceptable, ever. Not only that, but these guys are all friends, and while they want to win, they don't want to do so by someone else doing poorly.
Ashley had made a constructive comment about Boyang's simpler transition steps in relation to others. It started out as a good comment, but soon descended into chaos. Near the end of the night of the men's free skate, Yuzuru Hanyu was in the lead, with Javier Fernandez in second and Boyang Jin in 3rd. She started going on about how "crossovers can't win the Olympics", referring to Boyang. Then once Shoma Uno earned the silver medal with a great skate, she gloated about that and the fact that Boyang was off the podium. That's when I was done. Boyang has worked so hard to improve his skating skills over the past few seasons and performed brilliantly. When he was in the kiss and cry, you could see how much this meant to him. So for her to just be petty and dismiss that and to pit skaters against each other, I can't. She pulled the same crap Tara did. Girl, bye.
I may get some backlash from Ashley fans on this, but it's hard to defend her conduct lately.
Suggestions for New Commentators
I'm definitely one of those people that believe that for each thing you complain about, you should find a solution, or attempt to do something about it. I have some recommendations for people who would be great commentators, or current commentators that should get some more air time.
#1: Dick Button
Given Button's previous statements that were critical of the IJS scoring system, I am pleasantly surprised to see all his tweets during the Olympics. He is the all time greatest commentator in my opinion, and I'd love to see him back on air. I'm not sure that will happen, but it's nice to see him involved in some capacity.
#2: Scott Hamilton
He is doing great with the Olympic Ice segment, but I'd like to see him in the commentator's spot again. Not sure that will happen, but a girl can dream...
#3: Charlie White
NBC and NBC Sports have had Charlie on for commentary during the ice dance portion on previous occasions, and he is terrific. He really gets into the details and has even told stories about how hard the dance teams work. Bring him into the prime time!
#4: Jeremy Abbott
Jeremy has been terrific this whole season on Twitter, going into details about each of the programs! He's definitely got potential to be one of the best commentators. NBC should pick him up!
#5: Kristi Yamaguchi
Kristi has appeared on the Olympic Ice segment several times. She's got a fun and bubbly personality, plus the expertise to provide good comments.
And that's a wrap, folks. As you continue to watch the Olympics, keep these things in mind. While we may now be grinding our teeth at these comments, there is hope that things can improve. Also, if you're outside the US, I would love to hear about the commentators you are hearing.
I'll be watching the rest of the Olympics, and hope things go well!
Ah, the Olympics. A time where athletes get to see their dream realized, where all the work they've put in leads up to this moment...
Also a time for high DRAMA and media blitz! For some reason, little attention is paid to these things in other seasons. But during the Olympic season, whoo, boy, there is suddenly a bunch of ridiculous crap going on.
I'm sure everyone knows about the Tonya/Nancy scandal. Even those who don't care about skating know the story. This is especially prevalent now, with the release of the film "I, Tonya", and with Harding making multiple television appearances. I had considered writing a separate post just on Tonya, but frankly, I'm not interested. It is just dwelling on the past and beating a dead horse. The skating world has moved on and we should too.
If you like ridiculous drama, you are in for a treat! There are many more figure skating scandals to see, from the low impact and laughable, to major issues that have changed the rules of skating, to things that are just downright disturbing.
I will ease you into the world of scandals with some fairly minor ones, some with bitchy quibbles, others with controversial Olympic team selections.
I now introduce you to...
Minor Scandals
Nancy Kerrigan and Oksana Baiul
Another scandal in the 1994 Olympics where Nancy Kerrigan was involved. She was obviously the victim between her and Tonya, but with Oksana, she was the villian. Kerrigan won the silver in Lillehammer to Baiul's gold, and she made a comment stating that Oksana won because of Russian favoritism. That was not the final blow. Prior to the medal ceremony, Oksana was emotional for a variety of reasons. Her mother passed away when she was 13, and she was thinking of her when she won her gold medal. She was crying and it messed up her makeup, so she was reapplying before the ceremony. Nancy is caught on camera rolling her eyes and saying,
"Oh, come on. She's going to get up there and cry again. What's the difference?" Then she proceeded to mock Oksana a few weeks later when she hosted Saturday Night Live.
No one thinks Nancy deserved what happened to her. That was a horrible act of violence that no one should have to go through. However, that does not make her perfect, or entirely innocent. This situation proves that. It was so unclassy and rude. And as an Oksana fan, I definitely did not appreciate it. As a result, Nancy lost a lot of sympathy that people had for her after the attack.
Plushenko and the Platinum Medal
Another minor quibble came about in the 2010 Olympics Men's event. Evan Lysacek won the gold, delivering a stellar performance and lacking just one thing, a quadruple jump. Evgeny Plushenko, who did perform a quad, was not pleased about this fact. Plushenko is also extra AF, so he had to announce this in a grand fashion. He made a picture of him with his silver medal from the 2002 Olympics, his gold medal from the 2006 Olympics, and his newly-anointed "platinum medal" from the 2010 Olympics. Here it is:
He had mentioned that without a quad, "it wasn't men's skating" and several coaches and skaters chimed in with their thoughts on the issue.
Anyway, moving along...
Costume Complaints
Figure skating bombshell Katarina Witt caused quite the stir when she showed up at the 1988 Olympics in this costume:
This high cut, skirtless costume apparently shocked and offended many people, particularly the judges. That did not stop her from winning though. It was, however, the cause for a new rule: the Katarina rule. This rule stated that the "hips and buttocks must be covered" in skating costumes. This rule was repealed in 2004. After 2004, there were a few brave ladies that went on the push the envelope with their costume choices, and caught a bit of flack for it.
The first one is ice dancer Tanith Belbin (now White), in this scandalous original dance costume at the 2006 Olympics:
And there were complaints on Tessa Virtue's free dance costume for this season:
Someone on Twitter said this costume with its bare back was too revealing.
All of this, not a big deal in regards to what's coming. Or at all. Now for some more low-level scandals...
The 2014 US Olympic Team selection (Ladies)
At the 2014 US Nationals, the favorite to win, and assumed lock for the Olympic team, Ashley Wagner, had a disappointing skate and finished 4th. Gracie Gold won the US title, a young girl named Polina Edmunds won the silver in her senior debut, and Mirai Nagasu put out a great effort to capture the bronze.
The real controversy started the next day, when the Olympic team was announced. USFS had chosen to send Gold, Edmunds, and Wagner to the Olympics, leaving Nagasu off the team. The internet erupted about the injustice that was done, and how Mirai was screwed over. The team selection actually came down to Polina Edmunds and Mirai Nagasu, but many people, including myself, did not know this at the time. I was mad at the world, and definitely not pleased with Ashley. Of course, my attitude on her has now changed completely. Another thing that was an issue was that the US Figure Skating Association was not very transparent on the criteria used for the team selection. The criteria did include US Nationals, but also took into account the international competitions of the season. Ashley had won the bronze medal at the Grand Prix Final that season, so that definitely played in her favor. Polina Edmunds was in the Junior Grand Prix Final, so that may have factored into their decision as well.
The 2018 Olympic Team selection (many countries, all disciplines)
It appears that there has been a dichotomy for most of the world's top skaters: the challenger events and Grand Prix series, culminating in the Grand Prix Final, and each country's national championships. Skaters that were not seen as international contenders early in the season were putting everything into their performance at their respective national championships, presumably in hopes of making the Olympic team. Several of the top international competitors seemed to falter a bit at their national championships, leaving the Olympic selection committees with quite the dilemma. Another thing to factor in here is the scores. International competitions have a panel of judges from several nations represented in the ISU, where as the judging panel at National Championships consists only of judges from that particular federation. Why do I bring this up? Typically the "in country" judges inflate the scores of skaters at their National Championships.
We will start out with the first of difficult decisions, after the All Japan National Championships. Their particular dilemma was who to send for the ladies, only having 2 slots.
Satoko Miyahara qualified for the Grand Prix Final and won the National Championship, so she was an easy pick for the first slot. The dilemma came down to choosing Kaori Sakamoto, who won the silver at Skate America, and placed second at Nationals, and Wakaba Higuchi, who qualified for the Grand Prix Final and placed fourth at Nationals. The JSF opted to send Sakamoto to the Olympics, and Higuchi to the World Championships. This decision was not met with a lot of outrage, as it seemed equitable to both skaters' achievements. There were a few that were sad for Wakaba, but there was not the angry gnashing of teeth that we will see in a few of these selections...
Then there is the Team Russia controversy. The Olympic Team was chosen after the European Championships. The Russian selections were then sent to the International Olympic Committee, or IOC. There are two skaters, ice dancer Ivan Bukin, and pairs skater Ksenia Stolbova, who did not receive an invitation to the Olympics. They are both quite devastated and angry at this, and rightfully so. No explanation has been given as to why they were not invited. The Russian Federation is currently fighting for these athletes to attend the games, and I hope they are successful in doing so.
US Nationals and the Olympic team selection were fairly clean cut for pairs and ice dance. The ladies and men's slots, however, were a point of contention. In the ladies event, we sense a bit of deja vu from the 2014 Olympic season...
Ashley Wagner placed a disappointing 4th again, even though she performed with only one mistake in the free skate. This time, she was not chosen for the Olympic team. There was much discussion about how the judges seemed to boost certain skaters, while purposely lowballing others.
Then, in the men's event, some very strange things happened.
One that was not strange was Nathan Chen defending his title. That one was pretty much a given. The 2017 Junior World Champion Vincent Zhou also performed better than he had the whole season to win the bronze. Unfortunately, after a great start to the season, Adam Rippon made a few costly mistakes at the end of his free skate to end up in 4th at nationals. Ross Miner performed one of his best ever performances for the silver. This became an issue of whether nationals should determine the Olympic team, or whether the entire body of work throughout the last few seasons should count more. The US Olympic Committee opted to send Rippon over Miner, and there was a great deal of debate on that.
In both instances I think they should have at least put Ashley and Ross on the World Team, but that didn't happen.
The last major national event of some contention was Canadian Nationals. In the pairs event, Liubov Ilyuschechkina and Dylan Moscovitch made some mistakes and ended up in 4th. Canada opted not to send them to the Olympics despite their standings of the last season.
Now we go on to ratchet up the scandal level just a bit...
Mid-level Scandalousness...
The scandals in this category brought a few changes to how things were done in the sport, but it was not major, groundbreaking change. This first one started out before the 1908 Olympics, and shaped a new policy going forward...
Madge Syers
This is Madge Syers. She was a British figure skater early on in the sport, who blazed a trail for many skaters to follow.
And no, it's not just for that fabulous coat. See, in the early days of figure skating, they didn't have separate disciplines by gender like they do today. So she competed against this guy in the singles event at the 1902 World Championships:
That's right, skating legend Ulrich Salchow of Sweden, inventor of the salchow jump. In the 1902 World Championships, Syers was the only woman in the event, and won a silver in singles, with Mr. Salchow taking the gold. Many though Syers should have won! After that, the ISU decided that this was just too much, and they couldn't have all this co-mingling going on. In 1905, they established separate men's and ladies divisions. Not only did Madge continue to dominate singles, taking home gold medals including the 1908 Olympics, but she also won in pairs with her husband Edgar Syers.
The Russian Doping Scandal and Team Russia for the 2018 Olympics
Over the past few years, there have been widespread investigations into the Russian Federation, which has been mired in allegations of doping for all sports. I even wrote about this in one of my very first blog posts in 2016. You can check that out here. Now, when I mentioned there should be repercussions, I did not mean banning athletes who have worked hard and done nothing wrong. That was what the Olympic Committee was looking at doing.
What they have now decided is this: individual athletes can compete, but they will be announced as an "Olympic Athlete from Russia". They will not march in under the Russian flag in the opening ceremony, and if they win, the Olympic theme will be played instead of the national anthem. This is not deterring any of the Russian skaters from competing at the Olympics, and I'm glad to see that. I'm sure they are tired of having reporters asking about this all the time.
Now we are onto the big'uns, it's time for...
High-Impact Scandals!
These scandals ended up driving major rule changes. Let me preface this by saying that figure skating has always been a subjective sport. One judge will prefer the style of one skater to another, and sometime the fans don't understand or like it. However, these instances speak to both obvious corruption of the judges and inherent flaws in the system.
The 1972 Olympics- Ladies Event
During the 1972 Olympics, much debate was sparked on the importance of compulsory figures and how much weight they should carry as part of the total score. What spurred this debate was the ladies event at these Olympic games. Beatrix "Trixie" Shuba of Austria won the gold medal, despite having a less than stellar free skate with mostly single jumps. This happened because she was exceptional at figures. During that time, the short program and free skate scores were combined to make up 50% of the score. The other 50% was for compulsory figures. There was another skater, American Janet Lynn, who was her complete opposite. She won the free skate with this performance:
Despite winning the free skate and being awarded a 6.0 by one of the judges, Lynn ended up going home with the bronze medal.
This ended up bringing about the change in how compulsory figures were measured as part of the overall score. The new percentages consisted of 40% figures, 20% short program, and 40% free skate. The ISU had started making this change in 1972, but it wouldn't take effect until after the Olympic Games. This made compulsories less important to the total score than the free skating. The percentages for compulsory figures continued to dwindle until they were abandoned in 1991.
2002 Olympics Pairs Skating
During the 2002 Olympics, skating was still scored under the old 6.0 system. Here are the teams that changed it:
Jamie Sale and David Pelletier
Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze
I submit to you the following performances from the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City:
Sale and Pelletier:
Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze:
In the free skate, Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze had the more technically difficult program, but they had a small mistake, whereas Sale and Pelletier did not make any mistakes. In the technical merit scores, Sale and Pelletier had a lead over Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze. However, the presentation marks were where things started getting hairy, with the Russians slightly edging out the Canadians. Under the 6.0 system, there are these scores, and then there are ordinals, where the judges recommend a placement for each pair for the competition. This is what caused the most controversy, as Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze were placed first, and Sale and Pelletier second. It was later proven that there was collusion with the judges on the placements, as the French judge later came forward and confessed. To try to fix this whole mess, they decided to award both pairs a gold medal.
What came next was a complete revamp of the judging standards. The new system was the International Judging System, or IJS, which is still in use today. The IJS scoring attempts to make things more objective by quantifying elements. There is also a Program Components Score, which replaces the old Artistic Impression/Presentation scores. The new scoring system has its fans, and its detractors. It has evolved a lot since its beginnings in 2002, which may be confusing to some fans.
Here's my thoughts on the whole thing. I think IJS worked fantastically when it first got started, up until about 2014 or so. Since then, I have seen some judging protocol violations far more flagrant than what we saw at the 2002 Olympics. This is because the judges are going away from the quantifiable side of things and becoming more subjective, awarding larger grade of execution and program component scores to their favorites, whether they are deserving or not. I predict we will have another great shift in judging and scoring in the not too distant future.
For this next section we are visiting figure skating's dark side. This is:
WTF????
This section will show some very disturbing things. We have a dance program at the height of insensitivity, one scandal everyone and their dog knows about, and some that will shock and disturb you to the core. Here's where we'll start:
Domnina and Shabalin's Aboriginal Dance:
I have touched on this particular dance several times before in previous posts, so I won't go on about it for too long. This is probably the worst ice dance in history. Up to and including the 2010 Olympics, ice dance had 3 events: the compulsory dances, which were standard ice dances based on ballroom dances, the original dance, which had required elements with a different theme each season, and the free dance. The theme for the original dance for the 2010 Olympic season was dances from around the world. This led to a lot of, should I say, interesting program choices. This goes beyond mild cultural appropriation into something downright insulting. Unsurprisingly, the skaters received a lot of flack for this program. However, my previous statement still stands. They are not the only ones at fault here. They have a whole team of coaches, choreographers, and costume designers who all thought this was a good idea. Well, it was definitely something different, but not in a good way. The ISU later changed the ice dance events to two events, the short dance and the free dance. I often wonder if this program and other questionable ones like it helped drive that decision.
The "Whack Heard Round the World"
So, this one needs no introduction. Unless you've been living under a rock, everyone knows about the Tonya/Nancy scandal. And now there's a movie out about Tonya Harding. As I mentioned, I'm tired of hearing about this and don't really care to write about it. Then there's all the good, bad, and ugly takes out there about how skating isn't as popular as it was back then and other such tomfoolery. This was 24 years ago. Time to move on.
Sonja Henie Nazi salute?
Other than Tonya Harding, the only other skater who was surrounded with rumors, controversy and intrigue was figure skating icon Sonja Henie. Just before the 1936 Olympics in Germany, Sonja saw Hitler while she was skating and stopped and said "Heil Hitler" to him. He apparently was also a big fan of hers as well.
Understandably, this caused a huge uproar. It is very unsettling to think that someone who is credited with bringing figure skating to the masses could be associated with Hitler or the Nazis in any way. This article from Vanity Fair sheds a fascinating light on this situation. Many skaters think she mainly did this for publicity and career, and that she was not inherently a political person, and she did not really know what Nazis were about. There are still a lot of missing details in this story, so we may never know. Ironically, after retiring from competitive skating, she toured overseas with the USO tour, primarily geared toward US Forces and allies.
Wolfgang Schwarz Kidnapping Plot and Sex Trafficking
In what is probably the most disturbing thing of all, the 1968 Olympic Gold Medalist Wolfgang Schwarz was convicted in 2006 of plotting to kidnap the daughter of an Austrian businessman for a $3.6 million ransom. Just before that, he was charged with trafficking Lithuanian girls and bringing them to Austria to work as prostitutes, then taking a portion of the money. He was acquitted of this charge in 2005, but was previously convicted for this very same thing in 2002. He ended up only staying 1.5 years in prison because he was recovering from skin cancer.
Well folks, I hope you have enjoyed the ride with all this drama, some silly and frivolous, and other things just disturbing and wrong. Let the drama of this season be mild, if there has to be any at all. Stay tuned for more posts! You know I'll be all over the internet for the Olympics soon, and so will you!
Well, I suppose it's time to get going on this thing again...How has this year gone by already?
And what a roller coaster ride it has been...
Let's start by bringing of my 2016 year in review post, shall we? I hit the mark on a few of my goals there. Not too shabby...and of course, some of the things didn't happen.
2017 Highlights, in no particular order:
Returning to skating and competition
I returned to skating at the beginning of the year, and quickly picked up where I left off.
My competition season typically kicks off with the Alabama Grand Prix series. This is a USFS Learn to Skate competition series, for beginner skaters up to Preliminary on the standard track, and Adult 1 through Adult Bronze on the adult track. The intent of the series is to get skaters used to competing and shake off some nerves. The Alabama Grand Prix has 3 events: Blades in Decatur, in Decatur (my home rink), Rocket City Junior Classic in Huntsville, and Blades in Bama in Birmingham. I competed in Decatur and Huntsville but unfortunately had to miss the Birmingham competition. I placed 3rd at Blades in Decatur and 1st at the Rocket City Junior Classic (where I was the only adult in the entire competition 😐). These results led me to win the Alabama Grand Prix series first place medal for Adult Bronze.
In August, I competed at the Scott Hamilton Invitational in Nashville. This was probably the biggest competition I've been to. And of course the highlight was meeting the man himself:
He is super nice and friendly just like I had expected! Please ignore my over-the-boot tights here...my hair and makeup are good though.
After that, I competed at the Peach Classic in Atlanta, held every year on Labor Day weekend. This competition draws a lot of adult skaters I don't see often and we always have a good time when we get together. I would have been able to have more drinks at the party if I hadn't signed up for 7:10 AM practice ice the next morning...what the hell was I thinking with that...One of the highlights from Peach was our bronze team maneuvers event, where I got to play a stern Russian coach! My friend brought this awesome hat that unfortunately, I had to give back. I also borrowed my coach's jacket.
My final competition of the year was an ISI competition that is very special to me. My very first competition was at Wind, Rain or Shine in Decatur in 2007. This made the 2017 competition my 10th anniversary of competing. I got to do something new that I'm both good at and really enjoy: announcing! Then I had the performance of a lifetime to my dramatic program "The Fighter". It's such a shame there was no video for it. My friend I was competing against is a silver level skater, and I knew I had an extremely low chance of winning, but I wanted to put everything out there. I wanted to see what I was capable of when I gave it everything I had. I was so proud. I don't know if I'll ever have another moment like that again, but I certainly hope that I do.
My 10th Wedding Anniversary
On December 15th, Ryan and I celebrated our 10th anniversary. It was not a grandiose affair but we had an absolutely great time. I got my hair done, and we went to the Galaxy of Lights (a huge drive-thru display of Christmas lights) and had a nice dinner. The big trip is on the horizon for 2018, hopefully!
Visiting Family
I came to Houston in July for my nephews' birthday, as I do every year. I love my boys, and my family so much! We had cake, and a parade, and swimming, and cocktails, and shenanigans. More than a girl could ask for.
A New Job (and promotion 😎)
One of my biggest goals was to finally get a promotion this year, and it happened! I started at the end of June. It is great to have a fresh new start and work with new teams to figure out my role. I have a lot of responsibility, but I will rise to the occasion. I was in a situation before where I just needed to make a change.
My New Friends on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram
You guys have all made my year. Truly. I love all our interactions, and it's so good and refreshing to have conversations with people all over the world and from all walks of life. I hope that one day when the hubs and I are traveling the world, or I'm on the road for a competition, that I will get to meet you. I'm so thankful for all of you.
Other awesome events
I led the drama section at my church's Vacation Bible School again this year. I am very passionate about VBS, and I hope that it showed to the children. It was another fantastic experience. Then there's the Renaissance Feast and the Renaissance Faire, where I found a new piece of music I would like to skate to. VBS and the Ren Faire are highlights of every year! And let's not forget our new holiday tradition: the Handel's Messiah sing-along!
And now, on to the next section:
My Not-so-Great Events of 2017:
Again, in no particular order:
Hurricane Harvey
As many of you know, I'm a native of the Houston area. While I was not in Houston at the time of Harvey, all my family was, and they had to deal with the effects. My grandmother's house got flooded and they are still work on repairing it. It was an extremely stressful time because no one knew if they would have to evacuate or not. I had tears for many reasons over this storm. First were the tears of sadness, seeing everything I had known from childhood underwater. Then, there were tears of joy as I beamed with pride for the city that I will always call home. The whole world got to see what Houston, Texas was made of. This is something that I had always known, but now the naysayers saw it for themselves. People outside the area ask why anyone would want to live somewhere where it gets floods and hurricanes, and this is why. It's the people. The people opening up their businesses for shelter. The people rescuing their neighbors. This is where I grew up.
On that note, we have friends in Florida and Puerto Rico that are still recovering from hurricanes as well. There are some people in PR that still don't have power. We need to remember them in our thoughts and prayers.
My Skate Purchase on the Internet (and crappy attempt at fitting)
I had previously written a review of my new skates here, where things seemed to be going in the right direction. I had written that after I finally had a decent practice where I could actually jump for once, and I should have given it more time before writing an in-depth review. What has happened since has brought about a whirlwind of unfortunate events...
The skates are definitely too small and too narrow. That's the bottom line. Even after having the toe box stretched out, I'm still having problems. I'm getting bad toe cramps, and most of the time my feet are numb in my skates. I had been trying to make the skates work, and I did not want to admit I had screwed up and made a costly mistake for the longest time.
But wait, there's more! I started getting this bad pain in my arch too, and it has lingered on well after I have taken off the skates. It has made it hard to walk and I've been limping around on several occasions.
We had our dress rehearsal for the Christmas show and I was on the ice for over 4 hours. My feet were in excruciating pain by the time that was over. I could barely do anything in the last hour of the practice.
I also felt like I couldn't do some of my elements very well, particularly with my spirals. I was afraid to get my leg higher because I feared landing on my face.
So, here's what's happening now: I'm going to go to the podiatrist with my foot problems, then I'm selling these skates. Once I have enough money saved, I'm going to get a proper fitting and try on several different skates to get the ones that are right for me. No more online skate purchases for me, that's for damn sure! And it's also going to take me awhile to get money together for new skates, so I'm on another hiatus until then 😡😢.
Plans for 2018
I had been putting off writing this because I've been so upset about my situation with skating. At this point, I don't know when I will be back. I have some bills I have to pay off in addition to saving the money for the skates, and visiting my family. However, I'm now in a much better frame of mind and I'm able to see that there is plenty to look forward to in the New Year. I may branch into vlogging this year as well, if I'm able to get a new computer. I would love to share my videos with you, and I have a lot of great and amusing ideas!
I'm going to Houston in March, and I plan to see my little brother in Chicago sometime this summer, if not sooner. My husband and I are also saving and planning for a trip to Europe. We don't know where we plan to go yet, but I'm excited for pretty much anything!
As far as resolutions go, I'm just going to say that I need to take better care of myself. This includes what I'm eating as well as making my needed medical and beauty appointments. I sacrificed these things on several occasions this year but it's something I want to improve on. Once I get my foot fixed, I would also like to go back to my workout classes, particularly Zumba!
One final reflection: I have been "skating up" and competing at the Adult Bronze level for the past couple of years, even though I have not passed either the Moves in the Field or Free Skate tests yet. I don't have a flip or loop yet either. Pretty much the only Bronze element I have is the sit spin. I think I may hold off on competing at the Bronze level until I have passed the tests, and I still have a lot of work to do to make that happen. So, when I do get back to skating later this year, I plan to compete at the Adult Pre-Bronze level, at least for now.
I hope this post finds all of you well, and wish you a happy and prosperous 2018!
Hello everyone! The holiday season is now in full swing! What better way to ring it in than by showing you some beautiful programs performed to music from The Nutcracker Ballet and Suite? For this post, I'm only focusing on singles, pairs and dance programs, either from competitions or exhibitions. There are also some well known productions of The Nutcracker On Ice, and I hope to write about those as well. Here are my top 10 Nutcracker programs!
To start off, I will show you one of my bonus videos. This one is Jeff Foxworthy's "Redneck 12 Days of Christmas". Check out this soundbite:
🤣Well, that was funny! Ok, here's some skating.
#10: Peng Chang and Zhang Hao- Arabian Dance
This performance from the 2014 Artistry on Ice show is a great one! Peng and Zhang skate a more modern interpretation to the Arabian Dance music. Their throws are sky high! I love how he gets to show emotion in the program too, and have his own little spotlight.
#9: Alexei Yagudin- The Whole Damn Nutcracker Suite
Ah, yes, one of my favorite skaters right here. This was from the 1996 European Championships, early in Alexei's competitive career. If this one doesn't get you in a festive mood, I just don't know what will. All the jumps are right on the money with the music. And the pointy finger dance? Epic.
#8: Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov- Pas de Deux
You may remember me posting this in my recent Swan Lake post. Well, I screwed up. Pas de Deux is in The Nutcracker, not Swan Lake. Tchaikovsky composed a lot of stuff. One of the videos was mislabeled and I just went with it without doing my research. I apologize. Anyway, you get to see this beautiful program again! Every time they took the ice, it was magic.
#7: Zijun Li- The Waltz of the Flowers
Here we have Zijun skating to my favorite piece of the Nutcracker Suite. The Waltz of the Flowers is just beautiful. Zijun has such a pretty classical style, and she is definitely an underrated skater. Seriously, check her skating out! She withdrew from the Grand Prix this season due to an injury. I hope she is healing up and we will see her at the Olympics and Worlds!
#6: Meryl Davis and Charlie White- The Waltz of the Flowers
Now we have Meryl and Charlie taking on the Waltz of the Flowers! They have a similar halo effect on me that Gordeeva and Grinkov do. Everything they do on the ice is wonderful and they can do no wrong. Hey, look, we all have biases, and I am well aware of mine. Anyway, this is a lovely dance, very light and airy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AND NOW FOR AN INTERMISSION ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
While we are watching all these lovely skating programs, I wanted to throw this in. This is from Lindsey Stirling's new Christmas album. It is an excellent remix on the classic "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy", and I would love to see someone skate to it!
Her costumes and makeup are so amazing in this video too! I especially love the Snow Queen look.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AND BACK TO SKATING! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
#5: Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy- Pas de Deux
This performance from the 2014 World Championships secured a fifth world title for Savchenko and Szolkowy before they retired. This performance is so dynamic, and they have huge twists and throws! I loved their side by side spins too!
And of course there is a plot twist here. While Robin did retire and moved on to coaching, Aliona opted to keep skating with a new partner, Bruno Massot. If you saw their free skate from Skate America last weekend, you will see why I'm glad she decided to stay around. Not only that, but she is freakin' 33 years old! You get it girl!
#4: Ilia Kulik- Op. 71A, Nutcracker Ballet Suite
Here's Ilia's performance from the 2003 Ice Wars. Man, I miss that competition. Ice Wars was my life back in the day! I think they stopped doing it in the mid 2000s, but that was some cool stuff! The World Team vs Team USA. Epic. Anyway, back to Ilia's program. This music suits him and his skating style very well, complete with huge jumps, wonderful spins, and unique choreographic moves all his own.
#3: Mao Asada- Waltz of the Flowers/Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy
Here we get to see one of Mao's early performances of her skating career, back from the 2005/2006 season. This program is so festive and she exudes such joy! You can see the early makings of her legendary career here. That layback spin into a Biellman was so amazing! And my favorite move is the spiral with the hand wave! I love little details like that.
#2: Misha Ge- Pas de Deux
Misha brought down the house with this performance at the 2017 World Championships. It was a truly amazing performance, filled with emotion. At the time, he had planned for this to be his last competitive performance. Luckily for everyone, it was not. He has such versatility in skating style and can turn anything into art. He choreographs his own programs and is becoming a well known choreographer for many top skaters. If they ever do a new Nutcracker on Ice show, I nominate Misha as the Nutcracker Prince!
Well, these were amazing! Now for my #1 program....
#1: Zue Shen and Hongbo Zhao- Pas de Deux
This program is legendary, particularly this performance at the 2003 Grand Prix Final. Not only that, but there's actually good commentary on this one! If you've seen any broadcasts from the USA in the past few years, you will know that is quite a rarity nowadays. Everything in this performance flows so beautifully, and they really captured the essence of the Nutcracker Ballet.
There were a few more performances that I also enjoyed, but they just missed the cut for my top ten. I wanted to mention them here though. First, there is Sasha Cohen's performance of The Nutcracker from the 2004/2005 season. Her best performance of that program was at the 2005 World Championships. Yuka Sato also had a lovely performance to The Waltz of the Flowers, with a perfectly matched dress for the music. You should check these performances out too!
That's a wrap for now! I hope to come back soon with my reviews of the Nutcracker on Ice productions! Hope your holiday season is off to a great start!
Hey guys! I'm back for Part 2 of Swan Songs! In Part 1, I did a "Ranking the Warhorses" post. Lots of variety and cool programs to look at. If you missed it, you can check it out here. The focus of this post is a little different. There won't be any ranking today, just a display of some beautiful, interesting, and just plain funny programs.
Here's where we are starting off:
Another song often swept up in the realm of Swan Lake/Black Swan is "The Swan" by Camille Saint-Saens. "The Swan" is a piece from Saint-Saens' larger work, "The Carnival of the Animals". Another fun fact (bear with me, this ties in with the song, I swear!): When I was in 5th grade, I was chosen along with 5 other classmates from my music class to participate in the district-wide Music Memory Contest. We heard a piece of classical music and had to name the title and composer. Our school won the third place trophy!
So, how does this tie in? Well, "The Swan" by Camille Saint-Saens was one of the songs.
Now, back to our regularly scheduled skating post...
Here, we have 3 programs, in chronological order, or various renditions of "The Swan". You can see the line of influence from one program to the next. Check this out!
First, we have Oksana Baiul's "Dying Swan", her exhibition program from the 1994 Olympic season:
Just absolutely beautiful, exquisite, and amazing. True art and balletic beauty. Her skating is so quiet, and the landing on her jumps so soft.
Next, we have Johnny Weir's short program to "The Swan" at the 2006 Olympics. You can see some of Oksana's influence in his program...
Bonus scene: they scan over Johnny's Angels in the audience. This costume is amazing! No one can touch Johnny in the costumes department, that's for sure. In this program, he combines a strong technical program with some beautiful and amazing artistry, creating a style that is all his own.
He even has one glove to resemble a beak! I have heard that Jon Heder's character in "Blades of Glory", Jimmy MacElroy, was created after Johnny Weir. Check this out:
Yes, it is a spoof, but it is hilarious. One of my favorite movies!
And after that diversion, we have a third program to show in this group. It is Yuzuru Hanyu's exhibition to "Notte Stellata" from the 2016/2017 season. You can see some of Johnny's influence in this program...
Yuzuru is a wonderful and amazing skater. This exhibition shows a lot of his artistic sensibilities. He can also throw down quads like it's nothing. Just a really awesome skater! The vocals are a nice addition to the music, and he has that layback Ina Bauer in just the perfect spot! On a more superficial note, if anyone can come close to rivaling Johnny in costumes, it is definitely Yuzu!
I would be remiss if I did not include the beautiful performance of this young lady, Ms. Alissa Czisny:
She's such a lovely and elegant skater, and I'm sad that she never got a chance at the Olympics, despite her decorated record. I really like her skating style, very quiet and graceful.
And now, to close out "The Swan" performances, I have a really special one for you: This one is from a 2007 Holiday show at Emerald Lake in New Hampshire. Here's Vitaliy Opekan:
This performance is amazing, and the scenery is just beautiful. I have lived in the southern US for most of my life, and have never skated outside. It is a dream of mine to do so one day, especially at the Rockefeller Center in New York City. They do have a little outdoor rink where I live in Huntsville, Alabama around the holidays, but most of the time it's too warm for all the ice to stay solid. I would only want to go if it's below freezing outside, but then no one wants to go...what's up with that? Anyway, all the snow and trees around the lake just look so magical to me. And the decorations....Christmas is my favorite holiday so I am loving all of this!
If any of you have ever skated on a frozen lake, I would love to hear about it!
Now, on to some more cool stuff!
Swan Lake and Black Swan have inspired creative skating in other sub-genres of figure skating:
The first I'm going to show you is the often forgotten art of roller figure skating:
I figure skate on ice, and I have to tell you; this looks hard as hell. Some people find roller skating easier, but I have always found ice skating to be easier. You do have to have better balance for ice skating, but to me, roller skates are so heavy. It's a burden just to do the simplest of things. But then again, I have only used rentals. For what it's worth, I can't do much on rental ice skates either. What I fear in roller figure skating is falling. When falling on the ice, it can hurt, but most of the time there's a little bit of a slide when you fall. That is not the case in roller skating!
Next, we have the Russian synchro team Spartak-Junost performing their rendition of Swan Lake. If you haven't seen synchro, it is really beautiful to watch:
This is a genre I have participated in for a brief period of time. I was on our synchro team for the Christmas show back in 2014. I'm not sure if I will do it again, but I'm not ruling it out either. It is challenging (in good and bad ways) to work with a team in a sport that is individually driven. Seeing synchro on an elite level such as Spartak-Junost or The Haydenettes is fascinating. I think the part of the sychro aesthetic that I enjoy is that it looks like a marching band on ice.
For the final artistic rendition, here's a show I really want to see live. It's Swan Lake on Ice, performed by the Imperial Ice Stars:
This is so dramatic and captivating. It takes all the theatrical aspects of the ballet and puts it on ice. You will even see some ballet dancing mixed in with the skating. There's a lot of really cool effects, like the ring of fire, the flying, and the blacklighting.
Now, on to some more funny renditions...
You will probably recall the Mario and Sonic Wii games they kept showing during the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. Well, they did a figure skating program to Swan Lake! It is performed by Amy, the female hedgehog in Sonic. Here it is.
Great job Amy!
This next one is an amusing and very impressive performance by Victor Baryshevtsev:
Victor is a very decorated skater in multiple disciplines. He was on the hockey team for the USSR in the late 80s, and now coaches hockey skating techniques in the US. He also had some success in figure skating, playing Gaston in Beauty and the Beast for Disney on Ice. He merges both types of skating here, and the results are pretty damn impressive. I'm amazed at the things he can do in hockey skates, like that camel spin and the double axel! The blades on hockey skates do not have edges like figure skates, so I have no clue how he did that. All the falling and swimming near the end is great!!!
The program I have saved for last is truly special. It also scares the crap out of me a vast majority of the time. Alexei Polishuk and Vladimir Besedin combine figure skating with lots of acrobatic tricks. There's also a lot of blade grabbing and standing on each other, and other close calls with the blades. That's the part that makes me nervous. Anyway, they made this entertaining, and they are geniuses. Also, no one got hurt 😥.
I hope you guys enjoyed this post! I'm going to keep writing the warhorse posts, but I have some additional ideas I'm really excited to share with you! Stay tuned, and I'll be writing again soon!
